This is great for security, but what does it break?
There are a lot of useful things that could get potentially caught up in a policy like this (eg, the del.icio.us bookmarklet.) If this can knock down malware, great, but I'm a little wary of taking control of what third-party scripts users are allowed to run on their own machines.
I don't hold any valuable intellectual property, or work for a company that does, so I don't know the answer to this one. Is intellectual property taxable in the same way as physical property? Not just virtual property in an MMO, but does Sony have to have somebody periodically come up with a value for and pay ongoing property taxes on its library of songs? If they're going to take the position that virtual property is real enough to tax, why not far more tangible intellectual property? (I know, not the IRS' jurisdiction, but municipalities can fight over who gets the money later.)
There are a few places that collect and display these sorts of systems. The major problem is with hardware failure. Eventually, even if you buy a thousand NESs, they're all going to fail. A lot of work is currently going into figuring out exactly how to best emulate the games once the hardware and original carts/CDs/DVDs/etc. fail. It's not just a matter of downloading an emulator (although that's a strategy that's being used) but also making sure whatever emulator you use is as close to the original system as possible in terms of the experience of playing the game.
There was recently a conference and exhibition on this and related technology preservation issues at the Guggenheim
So, is this just a shortcut for the I'm Feeling Lucky button (in which case it is useless) or another way to sell advertising? Have to wonder what happens when you start typing in adwords Google has sold...
The organizers have cleverly split the prize between a lucky winner and whoever happens to have referred them, providing a selection advantage for viral dispersal of the meme.
That's a hell of a lot of words to say that it encourages people to spam.
There is a point where this starts to have diminishing returns, though. For instance, I'm currently trying to update the database of one client who has gone with the 'not broke, don't fix it' line of thinking for years...resulting in my trying to piece together a Filemaker 7 database from a Filemaker 3 database. The differences between the two are so massive that they gain nothing from sticking with Filemaker. If they had been upgrading as they went along, then they would have been eased into the new version. As it is, they have to basically start from scratch on learning how to use any features that I can't hide underneath the database's interface.
No, it wouldn't be interesting. As somebody who is involved with a number of projects that can only run on I2 because the commodity link is congested, I can say it would not be interesting so much as a pain in the ass.
But, you see, after this gets shut down for any one of a number of legal problems, they can claim that they tried to go after the street vendors but the law wouldn't let them. Guess there's nothing left for them to do but shut down P2P or pass a law that forces the government to take care of their problems.
You can build a whole lot of file servers. And more importantly, back them up, so that when one of the less literate professors starts opening random email attachments and loses their hard drive they don't lose all their course materials along with it. Seems like it would be much easier (and cheaper) to teach people how to map a network drive.
Maine started a program like this a while ago (but with 8th graders), and it has had predictably mixed results. We gave out iBooks. The decision to use iBooks rather than a PC notebook ended up being a good one, not because of students or because of IT support, but because the teachers didn't know how to use either and learned the iBooks faster than they would have a Windows machine. The school districts where the teachers now know the technology have been making good use of it; the ones where they don't know it it has been wasted. Worry more about the teachers than the techies.
Slashdot Mirror
If we're going to remake a space trading game, I'd much rather it was M.U.L.E. ...ok, different type of trading, but still...
Why are there Congressional computers with lists of political dissidents from around the world on them? Should I have checked 'Post Anonymously'?
This is great for security, but what does it break? There are a lot of useful things that could get potentially caught up in a policy like this (eg, the del.icio.us bookmarklet.) If this can knock down malware, great, but I'm a little wary of taking control of what third-party scripts users are allowed to run on their own machines.
I don't hold any valuable intellectual property, or work for a company that does, so I don't know the answer to this one. Is intellectual property taxable in the same way as physical property? Not just virtual property in an MMO, but does Sony have to have somebody periodically come up with a value for and pay ongoing property taxes on its library of songs? If they're going to take the position that virtual property is real enough to tax, why not far more tangible intellectual property? (I know, not the IRS' jurisdiction, but municipalities can fight over who gets the money later.)
So we're back to listservs now?
Beer encourages drunk driving! We should have a prohibition on alcohol! Oh. Wait.
Yay for security through obscurity! Somebody should tell Microsoft about the technique.
It's cheaper to let Slashdot take it down than to pay lawyers to do it.
There are a few places that collect and display these sorts of systems. The major problem is with hardware failure. Eventually, even if you buy a thousand NESs, they're all going to fail. A lot of work is currently going into figuring out exactly how to best emulate the games once the hardware and original carts/CDs/DVDs/etc. fail. It's not just a matter of downloading an emulator (although that's a strategy that's being used) but also making sure whatever emulator you use is as close to the original system as possible in terms of the experience of playing the game.
There was recently a conference and exhibition on this and related technology preservation issues at the Guggenheim
So, is this just a shortcut for the I'm Feeling Lucky button (in which case it is useless) or another way to sell advertising? Have to wonder what happens when you start typing in adwords Google has sold...
There is a point where this starts to have diminishing returns, though. For instance, I'm currently trying to update the database of one client who has gone with the 'not broke, don't fix it' line of thinking for years...resulting in my trying to piece together a Filemaker 7 database from a Filemaker 3 database. The differences between the two are so massive that they gain nothing from sticking with Filemaker. If they had been upgrading as they went along, then they would have been eased into the new version. As it is, they have to basically start from scratch on learning how to use any features that I can't hide underneath the database's interface.
This one may be trivial to work around...but once people are used to buying protected CDs, will the next one be as easy?
No, it wouldn't be interesting. As somebody who is involved with a number of projects that can only run on I2 because the commodity link is congested, I can say it would not be interesting so much as a pain in the ass.
No no no. If a multinational technology corporation does it, it's advertising. Only stuff from a company with less than 10,000 employees is spam.
But, you see, after this gets shut down for any one of a number of legal problems, they can claim that they tried to go after the street vendors but the law wouldn't let them. Guess there's nothing left for them to do but shut down P2P or pass a law that forces the government to take care of their problems.
Does this mean it's a DMCA violation to take apart a dovetail joint in a finished product? Couldn't you then reverse engineer the jig?
You can build a whole lot of file servers. And more importantly, back them up, so that when one of the less literate professors starts opening random email attachments and loses their hard drive they don't lose all their course materials along with it. Seems like it would be much easier (and cheaper) to teach people how to map a network drive.
Er. 7th. That is.
Maine started a program like this a while ago (but with 8th graders), and it has had predictably mixed results. We gave out iBooks. The decision to use iBooks rather than a PC notebook ended up being a good one, not because of students or because of IT support, but because the teachers didn't know how to use either and learned the iBooks faster than they would have a Windows machine. The school districts where the teachers now know the technology have been making good use of it; the ones where they don't know it it has been wasted. Worry more about the teachers than the techies.